Loading docks located at warehouses and other places where cargo is on and offloaded from freight vehicles have a variety of equipment associated with them. For example, many loading docks have a garage-type door that provides security and protection to the interior of the warehouse from the elements. Loading docks may also be equipped with other equipment such as lights and a dock leveler.
A dock leveler is used to form a bridge between the surface of the loading dock and the bed of a freight vehicle. Often, freight vehicles such as tractor trailers have a bed located at a different height than the dock. Many dock levelers include a ramp that is hinged at one end that can be raised or lowered to match the level of the bed of the freight vehicle. At the free end of the ramp is a lip that pivots between a pendant position about perpendicular with the ramp and an extended position where the lip is substantially coplanar with the ramp. Often the lip is extended and then brought down by a means of lowering the ramp to allow the lip to rest on the bed of the freight vehicle, thus establishing a bridge between the loading dock and the bed of the freight vehicle.
Other common pieces of equipment associated with loading docks may include a vehicle restraint. A vehicle restraint may attach to either the frame of the vehicle itself, or it may involve a blocking device, such as a wheel chock, to hold the freight vehicle in place. These several pieces of equipment associated with the loading dock are often controlled by control panels that may be located within the warehouses themselves. The control panels may be unitary, in other words, may control all of the pieces of equipment, or be singularly dedicated to an individual piece of equipment. In other instances, a control panel may control a few pieces of equipment but not all of the equipment associated with the loading dock.
Larger loading docks may include several bays where each bay may be equipped with a door, a dock leveler, vehicle restraint, lights or other pieces of equipment. For a variety of reasons, it may be desirable to monitor the status of a piece of equipment at a loading dock. For example, it may be desirable to monitor whether a dock door is open or in a closed position, in what position a dock leveler is in, or whether or not a vehicle restraint is engaged with a vehicle.
In some instances, it may be desirable to keep records of the status of various pieces of equipment associated with the loading dock and establish the time in which the pieces of equipment were manipulated during normal loading dock operations. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that monitors the status of various pieces of loading dock equipment and, in some instances, keeps or maintains a historical record of the status of loading dock equipment.